The Dutch Republic, 1672. John de Witt has spent his life defending republican ideals against the tide of monarchy, yet now finds himself guardian to the very Prince of Orange he's fought to suppress. The young William is fourteen, brilliant, willful, and slowly becoming the charismatic leader De Witt has feared. What unfolds is a haunting meditation on power and principle: De Witt must educate the prince he despises, shape a future he believes will destroy his nation's hard-won freedoms, and confront the possibility that his own convictions have hardened into something closer to ambition. Around them, English diplomats scheme, French armies threaten, and Dutch merchants weigh loyalty against profit. This is historical fiction stripped of romance, Bowen renders the machinery of state and the weights it places on conscientious men with austere precision. The tragedy isn't simply that De Witt fails. It's that he might be right about everything and still be wrong.
